Tales fansite, Kingdom of Tales, have a fantastic interview with Tales Studio executive, Makoto Yoshizumi (yes, the one and the same), up on their site. The interview touches upon a broad range of topics, covering everything from the possibility of a Tales of Xillia release to more Tales games on the Nintendo 3DS to plans for high-definition ports of older Tales titles.

“This is something we would like to do and we are currently working to see if it would be possible to port older Tales games: Phantasia, Destiny, or Eternia, not only in Japan, but throughout the world. However, I still can’t give much information about this. We are still discussing about whether this project can be done and on which game console those ports would be made.”

On why Graces on Wii isn’t coming over:

“We wish to deliver the best and most complete experience for US and European fans, therefore we’re localizing Tales of Graces f. The game on the PS3 version is on a blu-ray disc. It would be next to impossible to condense all the game’s data on a Wii disc, so unfortunately, there will be no Wii release.”

On Graces f’s European release:

“Actually we are planning for a release in summer 2012.”

On sales expectations for Abyss and future Nintendo 3DS games:

“Well, I’d say 250 000 copies. We also hope we will be able to release more Tales games on 3DS.”

Summer 2012 for Europe. That feels so far away, but I guess I can wait, hopefully the US release isnt too far off, and Im glad they brought up Code Geass DLC! Please deliver to US!

Possibility for Tales of Xillia makes my heart glad!

HistorysGreatestMonster

I’m hoping for a January 2012 release for Graces F and then Xillia maybe in Fall of 2012 or Winter of 2013, if Graces F sells well.

AxeL

Yea I hear you, but time does past by fast so before you know it we will have the games in our hands! Couldn’t be happier about the Code Geass dlc. Never been this excited for content pertaining to anime other than my big 3 animes: Bleach, Naruto Shippuden and One Piece.

That makes two. I love every Tales game i got my hands on. Symphonia 1 and 2, Abyss and Legendia.

Mister_Nep

I hope those numbers aren’t referring to the Western releases. Don’t think either territory will hit 250k

Shinji Kazuya

Let’s hope he means both territories together. If Tales of the Abyss doesn’t sell well we might not see another Tales on 3DS. :<

Even this would make me excited though. (If they included the stuff for the ToD DX and made the same available for ToD2 though with it as well, I would never be able to be disappointed with Bamco again.)

puchinri

That would be beautiful.

Shinji Kazuya

Damn, 1 year left for Tales of Graces f! ;_;
Oh well, I can wait! Lots of other great stuff to play till then like The Last Story and Final Fantasy XIII-2! :3
I’ll have my hopes up for more Tales games for 3DS and Tales of Xillia localisation!

Yoshizumi also said the sales of Graces F will not affect the decision to localize Xillia! But we fans must make ourselves heard and clearly say that we want it!

Shinji Kazuya

He said that? Awsome! I have been following Xillia here, on Siliconera, and I can say that I really like it! The battle system, the characters, the graphics. In another words: What a Tales fan like me would expect from the next Tales console game!

4. KoT: Tales of Xillia has yet to be announced in Occident. Will the decision to release the game solely depend on how well Tales of Graces f sells here?

Yoshizumi : No, not at all. It has nothing to do with Tales of Graces f sales. We will only release Tales of Xillia if we feel fans are really enthusiastic about the game.

KoT: Are we to understand we’ll have to spam Namco Bandai’s facebook account again?

Yoshizumi : *laughs* Yes, I guess that’s one way among others.

Shinji Kazuya

Ahahah! Awsome! xD
Spam time again in the future!

DanteJones

Oh what, that’s awesome! It’s a bit easier to get a mob of online people to spam messages than it is to have them go buy stuff. XD

Exkaiser

Yes, well, for the continued health of the franchise I think they should also pick up Graces F.

I’ll be quite disheartened if him saying this causes a marked drop in sales… Though I personally don’t think it will.

DanteJones

@Exkaiser:disqus That is very true! And yeah, I wouldn’t be too worried about his statement. It might not be PS3 Vesperia or Xillia, but it’s still a new (and good) Tales game from what I’ve read. :)

Ryos

Good grief. I’m not going to campaign for every game I want brought out here.

Ladius

Honestly I can’t understand that statement, it simply makes no sense from a business standpoint.

I hope it doesn’t end up damaging ToGF’s sales, it’s an amazing game and the way it’s been labeled as “the Tales game you should buy if you want Xillia” is one of the worst things I have seen happening in the Tales fanbase as of late :

Dimentionalist

Agreed to the point where I want to “love” this post instead of merely “liking” it. Graces F (and Team Destiny in general) is amazing. I’ve seen so many irritating Vesperia fanboys who are boycotting the game to spite the company, and I can only hope these idiots don’t affect the sales.

of course i read the news ¬¬
its just that my espectactions of namco bandai for worldwide games arent big.
Tales of Graces F is a fact, but the HD ports are only a possibility for us cause the sellings of their previous games

Suicunesol

Tales of Phantasia is a 2D game…

DanteJones

“Phantasia, Destiny, or Eternia, not only in Japan, but throughout the world.”

kupomogli

They’re aiming a bit high for Abyss 3DS sales aren’t they? This is the reason we don’t get Tales titles in the US. Namco is setting themselves up for failure. 250,000 sales, even in all regions, is a lot considering that it’s about 1/4 of the amount of the entire 3DS userbase.

Hm? With over 4mln 3DS units WW, they just have to get around 75K in each region. It doesnt seem that lofty, truth be told, for lifetime sales of the title.

puchinri

Well, how proportionate are the sales of each region though? That certainly counts for something.

kupomogli

I actually didn’t know they were that high in 3DS sales. I guess even though low every week the numbers do add up.

puchinri

That’s what I was thinking. It’s a direct port (better load times at least, supposedly) on a portable that not that many people have.

Ladius

Well, Tales of Eternia on PSP managed to break 250k in Japan mixing the original release and the budget reprint.

That said, seeing how ToR and ToD2 PSP’s performance was substantially lower I too have my doubts that TotA can meet that quota in Japan, especially considering 3DS’s still a young platform. If he was speaking about combined sales in Japan, USA and Europe, though, I think they will probably be able to do it.

This is wonderful news! I am extremely grateful for their current efforts tbh.
I am truly excited and can’t wait for Graces F to hit the US/EU. Graces F and Xillia are my top two most anticipated games and people should focus on them without a doubt. I also like the fact that they will consider HD ports of older titles! They have my support all the way. Thanks for the article guys

Shinji Kazuya

Yes Genesis! I feel the same! I’m quite happy with Namco Bandai right now.
Can’t wait to play Tales of the Abyss on 3DS and then Tales of Graces f on PS3. I know I’ll have a blast like I did with Tales of Symphonia, Tales of Legendia and Tales of Vesperia. Tales of Vesperia is also my all time favourite so far!

I’ll go for the PS3 version of ToG:F no matter what, but their reason for no Graces on Wii doesn’t convince me. A quick & dirty Google search told me ToG:F is smaller than 8GB (Dual Layer DVD capacity, Wii can read these). And more importantly: there’s always the option to pack the new chapters on a second disc. Just like they did with Tales of Symphonia.

Glad about the planed ports though. Not that I’m a fan of ports, but we got so few Tales games in Europe.

Must be a dub hater. Anyway I am glad they are starting to look at the fanbase in America now. The part that really got me exicted though was the fact that they are thinking of bringing the older Tales of game that was never localized in other game system ports.

Who, me? I’m not a dub hater, I just like being able to choose. When there’s the dual audio I often like to use the original dub for the first playthrough, that’s true. But for the following ones, I also like to switch to the English dub.

epy

Please do not bring that into siliconera 16Rivers. People can comment over their preference of audio without the accusations of “dub hating” you enjoy so much.

Dimentionalist

He does this everywhere he goes. You’ll get used to it.

Shinji Kazuya

Gah! That would be too good. A Tales game with English and Japanese voices? I’m not betting on it even though the disc has more than enough space for that. Surprise me Namco!

roboattack

TOGf only uses 8GB of the bluray space, including replicated data which is important for ps3 games, just saying…

raikage

So, it would fit on a Double Layer DVD…

puchinri

Wow, seriously? I didn’t realize it was that small. I mean, that’s not actually that small (well, technically is kinda), but compared to the size of a blu-ray disc, that sounds tiny.

roboattack

Best thing was, the installation needs over 5GB HDD space, yes you had to install the game (jpn version) to play it.
They should just say “it is a business decision”, than making up excuses.
Now give me Xillia, this year please.

puchinri

Ugh, I wish we were getting Xillia this year. One thing that annoys me with Abyss 3D and ToGf thing, is not that we are getting Abyss (I think we should get Hearts and not a direct port, but good for everyone who didn’t get it before), but that we’re getting Abyss before ToGf, even though ToGf was announced first. (It’d be different if we were at least getting it this year.)

I want Xillia soon at the least. Or an official confirmation. I’d take that much.

It’s hard to believe this folks, but it seems that Namco Bandai is finally giving the Tales of franchise a chance, and we’d better take this chance to show them they’re keeping things going on the right track! I’ll be supporting the series in Europe!

Now, having to wait another year for Graces f….that hurts :/ but knowing we’ll get other tales games meanwhile sounds fair enough for me :)

Shinji Kazuya

Yes Bruno! I will be supporting it, of course.
I’m waiting for Amazon UK to put it up so I can pre-order it.
About Tales of Graces f: We gotta be patient. The nice RPGs for consoles are, most of the time, like this. A lot of text to translate to the 5 languages and all. I have learned to be very patient during all these previous years of gaming.
And there will be a lot of other great games to have fun with until the summer of 2012! :3

Definitely supporting! Preordered Abyss and Graces already and am more than willing to take anything else they can throw at me. :) Shopto have actually had Tales of Graces f listed for a while if you want to try preordering from them (although ignore their placeholder that claims the game is coming out in February!).

Let’s do it everyone :D We’ll make the Tales series one of the most respected jrpg franchises of the now :D

Shinji Kazuya

Wow I never knew about this store. Seems like a good videogame store.
Thanks Santashi :3

DanteJones

NA REPRESEEEEEEEENT!

…

*cough* Sorry.

Seriously though, I hope Graces does so well Namco will have no doubts about bringing Xillia over.

Balmung

Woo! Supporting from Australia here XD

Balmung

Woo! Supporting from Australia here XD

kroufonz

I am also hope they could also pushing some advertisement for tales, i mean if they can spend money to advertise enslaved and inversion, why can’t tales get a bit of that treatment roo.

meat0bun

Suddenly, my dream for Tales of Symphonia on the 3DS comes closer to reality.

Only one more announcement will solidify Nintendo as my new god:
“Dragon Quest XI. ONLY FOR 3DS.”

Exkaiser

Dragon Quest XI 3D? My body is ready.

KeyCross

“Yoshizumi : I would like to ask, regarding the voice over, would you prefer English or Japanese dubs?
KoT: I like both. However, a common complaint about English dubs in J-RPG is that we almost always have the same voice actors again and again. I do not know if you’ve heard about Johnny Yong Bosch and Yuri Lowenthal, but it almost seems like those two persons appear in about 90% of the J-RPGs released in Occident.
Yoshizumi : This is very interesting information. I didn’t know such a thing happened with English dubs.”

It´s nice to see that in an interview both parties end up learning something they didn´t knew before. Who knows, perhaps Yoshimizu really took notice of this and he ´ll do something about it in the next localization.

If only there were more talent in the talent pool, though I guess they dont want to take risks without using tried and true voice actors.

puchinri

It’s not like there are a shortage of voice actors though. When you think about it, they cross media often, so if they can’t find the perfect voice for someone who predominantly does games, it wouldn’t hurt to look for someone in the cartoon, etc stuff. (Though I think even in the game part, it’s not like there isn’t a selection to choose from.)

The problem with voice actors from other media is that more often than not they have a hard time adapting to the Japanese anime school of acting: That is performances that, when well done, almost reach overacting… but without crossing the threshold. The infamous “emotive” acting that anime fans love so much but make anime haters to want to cut their own ears with rusty scissors.

That’s something that Japanese are truly experts at, but most Western actors are not used to. The acting style is just too different, and they need some learning and practise before they get it. That’s why hiring actors that don’t have anime experience is kinda risky. The problem is that there aren’t that many of them that are good enough as well.

Besides, it doesn’t help either that actors like Johny Young Bosch, Yuri Lowenthal and, more and more often, Troy Baker are… Well… Just THAT good.

I mean, I really can’t picture Emil, Luke for Fabre and Yuri Lowell speaking in English without the voices of those three.

@twitter-112139481:disqus Yay~! I’m not the only one who squeals out of sheer joy for Michael McConnohie. :3

Oh.. and about Laura.. lol a friend of mine is playing Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes atm.. and he was like “OMG, the person they got for Oichi TOTALLY sounds like the Japanese actress. They TOTALLY chose the right person there!” XDD

puchinri

That’s true for some cases. I can think of some that work across all media (cartoons, anime and games) or generally work on cartoons, but would do well for all media.

I actually think they’re okay. Well, I do enjoy Yuri Lowenthal a lot, but the other two (and quite a few others), I just don’t know if I feel that they’re good but just not matched to the right character often, I just don’t care for them in general. But they do better than some others would, that’s true.

puchinri

Oh, that’s interesting. Glad it was brought up. I’m glad they said both (because having both is great!), but it’s interesting that they didn’t know of the thing with dubs (and I hope they keep it in mind in the future and can do a little something).

darkfox1

Yes…YES.YEESSSSSSSSSSSSS

malek86

I wonder if by “HD ports” they could mean the WiiU as well.

But still, just how many versions of Phantasia do we need? That game is rising fast in the chart of the most ported games ever.

puchinri

Ah, I hadn’t considered the WiiU, but I suppose that would be a possibility, wouldn’t it?

And If Phantasia got a better localization with another port, I’d say it’s worthwhile.

puchinri

I really hope they do give some of the older games HD ports. Just so more people can play them. I still want ToD DX, but if they make a port of it (hoping they include the same and/or better stuff for LE), then I can’t complain. (Unless we don’t get it…)

I dont think the issue is simply one of looking at the size of the content and placing it on the Wii system…Plus isnt there are lot of compression and decompression involved in content transfer from disc to system play…

Shinji Kazuya

I’m perfectly fine with it. I prefer them bringing over the best version and most people will say the same.

So….even if we get 3DS Tales games….are they going to be localised? Or end up like Innocence, Hearts and Tempest? Also, I wish they would localise TOTW: Radiant Mythology 3, the original had pretty good sales.

Barrylocke89

HD Tales of Destiny Remake would be soooo awesome. Also Tales of Rebirth.

It wouldnt be a wise move for just the common consumer. Reviews will bash the Wii version on lack of content and refinements. I dont know why people say this, as fans themselves will resort to comparing the two releases as well. What fan would even suggest the Wii Version is a good deal when the F version exists…Even worst…would it still be relevant to release this RPG on the Wii in 2012 with The Last Story and Pandora’s Tower and possibly Xenoblade…this third party title will be lost amidst the marketing power of first party Nintendo…

Phoenix_Apollo

Yeah, even if it was crappy, I’d still buy it to have an RPG on my Wii. Arc Rise is a decent copy, but it’s not enough.

He might have been talking about global sales? it was a European interview afterall.

Covnam

Kind of surprised to see the (sometimes called) “beta” version of Tales of Graces on the wii wanting to be brought over. Plenty of people complained when a few Tales games were released, and then re-released with numerous bug fixes, extras etc. on another console and then only in Japan, so why would you be concerned if the original was brought over? No different than any other console exclusive game, if you want to play it, you have to buy that system.

As for the people mentioning the size of the game fitting on a wii disc, that isn’t the issue. You can’t simply take a ps3 game and drop it onto a wii disc and expect it to play on the wii. It has to be written for the system. Depending on how different the two games are, that may mean a completely new port. All that costs money, which I doubt that the tales series currently commands enough sales to justify.

HarryHodd

Tales of Xillia looks so good. No game I’d rather play. I’d buy any Tales game that’s on the PS3 so bring on the hd ports.

XypherCode

yeah i’m also hoping for more tales games on the 3DS…if it’s going to be localized that is :|

Guest

He said nothing about Xillia

Extra_Life

At least summer is more concrete than just “2012”. Still, another year… I really do have time to play through the Japanese copy I bought in the hope that by spending £65 on it, it would trigger a US/EU release!

HD ports of the older Tales games sound amazing, however intangible they are at the moment. I for one, would love to see (maybe a triple pack) Phantasia, Destiny and Eternia on any of the current platforms, download, flash card, disc, whatever.

vadde939

HD Ports sounds like an interesting idea. Hoping for Rebirth and Phantasia. Phantasia really deserves a good localized version since the english GBA release had such a terrible translation.

What? The only fighting games theyve released of late have been a two Naruto games and a DBZ one (essentially three each year being generous). Enslaved, Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom, Knights Contract, their iOS games, the Active Life: Magical Carnival, Exerbeat, Tales of the Abyss 3D, Tales of Graces F, Ridge Racer 3DS, Ridge Racer Vita, Ridge Racer Unbounded, Inversion, Ace Combat 3DS, Ace Combat Assault Horizon, heavily outweigh the fighting game focus you seem to be implying. I dont think they’d want to share profits on the Tales games, if that is how the system works.

really?? maybe i’m wrong…
i see soulcalibur 5 and some tekken game is up on the website already even the game still new in japan….
What i mean is they rarely look on tales game…(more like skipped it -_-)
but if it comes game like naruto,DBZ,Tekken or soul calibur they jump so quickly even it still new in japan that’s like discrimination to me…

I think its gotten harder or more challenging to convince people to try RPGs that are not of western origin in general, perhaps changing market conditions and interests of the market. I struggle to try to sell people on the RPGs I play on PS3…no one wants to give D3, Resonance of Fate, Star Ocean, Ar Tonelico a try.

@tristtrist:disqus Yea, selling games other than Fable/DA/Mass Effect/etc where people think of as the “current standards” for RPGs is hard. They like the whole choosing your own responses/personalities, the graphics, and/or the sex scenes between characters more than Japanese’s traditional RPG standards. So trying to sell a JRPG (outside of FF or KH) is harder when compared to MANY of the people who play the Western RPGs with it’s guns (mostly targeted to those who love shooters), personality branches, and sex scenes.